There Have Been Some Pretty Harsh Changes At Heinz Since Warren Buffett Bought The Company

It's not all Dilly bars and Cherry Cokes when Warren Buffett
takes over your company,
Bloomberg reports. When the Oracle of Omaha decides you're
ready for Berkshire — at least in Heinz's case — it's time for
some serious changes.

Earlier this year Buffett teamed up with Brazil's richest man,
Jorge Paulo Lemann, and his private equity firm 3G, to buy Heinz
in a $23 billion deal.

Now it's time to make the company really sing (and pay down the
$12.6 billion of debt that had be taken on to do the deal). That
means cutting costs. All kinds of costs — like 11 senior
executives.

An August memo obtained by Bloomberg News outlines new rules.
They limit printing to 200 pages a month per employee and
restrict color pages to “customer-facing purposes.” Employees can
spend no more than $15 a month on office supplies and are
expected to reuse items such as box files. To save on
electricity, mini-refrigerators “are not permitted moving
forward” and staff should rely on appliances in common areas.

Employee spending on business trips was limited to $45 per day
for food and incidentals, two of the people said. The aviation
department, which included two leased aircraft and a
company-owned Gulfstream IV, was shut, according to one.

Not the G-IV, anything but the G-IV.

There are also the 600 job cuts that are expected in the U.S. and
Canada, and 250 jobs in peril in the U.K. It looks like, on
the east side of the Atlantic, lawyers are particularly concerned
(from thelawyer.com):

In a statement Heinz said: “After a comprehensive evaluation
process, the company has developed a proposed new streamlined
structure for Heinz UK & Ireland.

“Unfortunately, the proposals may result in a number of difficult
organizational changes, including the elimination of 248 office
positions across the UK and Ireland. We regret the impact this
may have on Heinz employees and their families.

“The proposal is subject to a consultation process with employees
and their representatives, and Heinz is committed to ensuring all
employees are treated with the utmost respect and compassion.